Amendment 7 was placed on the ballot by overwhelming bi-partisan majorities in the Missouri House and Senate, and is needed because Missouri infrastructure has deteriorated:

- More than 2,000 Missouri bridges are structurally deficient and nearly two-thirds are rated only fair or poor. - More than 20,000 miles of roads do not even have shoulders.- Missouri has the seventh largest highway system, but ranks 40th in funding per mile.- Funding has been halved in the last decade while the material costs of concrete, fuel, asphalt and steel have at least doubled.

Safety

Amendment 7 would address all of these issues, but most importantly, it will help build better, safer roads. Missouri ranks third in the nation in structurally deficient bridges. Additionally, 9,290 miles of highway are in fair or poor condition. This measure will fix thousands of miles of roads and hundreds of bridges that are unsafe and in need of immediate action. Locally, projects will be selected based on public input gathered by the Ozarks Transportation Organization. The final list of projects will be approved by MoDOT later this month, but a draft project list can be viewed here.

Jobs

The amendment will also provide a boost to our economy. Every dollar invested in transportation in Missouri results in $4 of new economic activity. Amendment 7 would mean thousands of new, well-paying jobs helping put Missourians back to work.It's estimated that for every billion dollars invested in transportation 25,000 new jobs are created. Under the amendment, 90percent of the revenue generated will fund state priority transportation projects, and 10 percent will be divided between counties and cities for local transportation projects.

Accountability

Amendment 7 is accountable to taxpayers. Starting with the public input process used to determine the projects that will be funded, this decision begins and ends with the taxpayer. The tax is temporary and cannot be extended without a vote by Missourians, and because it is a constitutional amendment, politicians will not be able to divert this funding to non-transportation uses. It would freeze the gas tax and specifically exempts essential items like: groceries, medicine, fuel, utilities, mortgage payments, education, health care, retirement savings and prescription drugs.